137
YARDS
age 18 back then. We go to a local bar by the
college and there at a stool is the professor
whose class we skipped!
Forty years later in 2011, I scored hole in
one No. 2. In 2017, I got my third.
A LITTLE LUCK HELPS
BOB LAVER (Fort Belvoir GC)
First ace: South Wales Golf Course,
No. 16
RON GWALTNEY (Kempsville Greens GC)
First ace: Bayville GC, No. 16
My friend and I stood on the par-3 16th tee at Bayville GC in Virginia
Beach. As I prepared to hit my 3-wood I took one last look
at that brand-new $60,000 black Mercedes Benz convertible just
five yards behind me, the tournament reward for a hole in one.
I hit a straight shot right at the flag. Standing there, eyes glued
to the ball, it landed on the front of the green, ran back toward
the pin, then disappeared. I looked at my friend, then at the pin,
then at the car, and then realized that no one was by the green to
verify my hole in one! Only later did I learn that the car was only
available on the first 18-hole round we played that day, and not
on the second, when I got my first belatedly timed, but thrilling
nevertheless, hole in one.
CAUGHT!
MIKE TAXTER (Two Rivers CC)
First ace: Local muni near Albany, N.Y.
My story goes back to 1971. It is late April and I’m in college. Me
and three buddies skip school and go to a local muni near Albany,
N.Y. I hit a 7-iron on the 12th hole and it goes in the hole. We had
very little money but enough for one beer each—it was legal at
MIKE TAXTER
My first hole in one, on June 27, 1987, was
a little unusual. I hit a 3-wood to the back
of the 211-yard, 16th hole. The ball stopped
in front of a leaking sprinkler head. By the
time we arrived at the green, the flowing
water had carried the ball into the hole.
When I arrived home, I called my dad to
tell him about my ace. His reply, “Big Deal,
I had one today, too!”
JOE BELLAMAH
(Stonehenge G&CC)
First ace: Stonehenge G&CC, No. 11
The year was 1996. The hole was No. 11, 423-yard, par 4 at Stonehenge.
Club Corp (then CCA) and Stonehenge had signed their
lease agreement a year earlier. The 11th hole was almost always
wet, muddy and unplayable. One of the first improvements Club
Corp made was to raise the level of that hole by about two feet
and, in the process, add the lake on the right side of it. During
this time a temporary tee box was established about 100 yards
out from the green. That’s when I hit my first hole in one. It was
a pulled sculled shot that rolled along the left side of the green,
took the big break to the right and dropped in the hole. I was
playing with Lee Coble (I doubt he remembers). Based on the
temporary nature of the hole and the lousy shot, I did not report
this. But to this day, I can claim I am the only person to make a
hole in one at Stonehenge No. 11.
STUB ESTEY (Dominion Valley CC)
First ace: Botetourt CC
In a twosome in 2008, we began bumping up against a foursome
of my regular golfing buddies, so, on the first par 3, they wanted
us to play through. Hitting from an elevated tee to a small green,
where four pals formed a gallery, was nerve-racking. Especially
when one of the clowns at the green positioned himself dead in
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
22 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER/O CTOBER 2020 vsga.org